


The Old Guard: Told By Sebastien 'Booker' Li Livre

by Lexzandrihya



Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Andy Also Needs Therapy, Andy | Andromache of Scythia Needs a Hug, Booker POV Of TOG, Booker and Nicky Friendship, Booker wants Love, Booker | Sebastian le Livre & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani Friendship, Booker | Sebastien le Livre Needs Therapy, Booker | Sebastien le Livre Needs a Hug, Booker | Sebastien le Livre Whump, Everyone Needs A Hug, Inaccurate Sciency Stuff, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani Needs a Hug, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani and Nicky | Nicolò di Genova Acting Like a Married Couple, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani is an Incurable Romantic, M/M, Medical Experimentation, Missing Scene, Nicky | Nicolò di Genova Needs a Hug, Other, Probably Canon Divergent, Thoughts of Polyamory, Why Booker Betrayed the Team
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:54:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29900703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexzandrihya/pseuds/Lexzandrihya
Summary: He was late. So he sped. Sped along the dirt road in hopes of not making Andromache wait. She’d be upset as it was when she found out the Copley was a repeat, there was no reason to annoy her by making her wait for him.So he rode his bike. Fast. Till he saw Andy walking up ahead. The tires squealed as he stepped hard on the brake to stop right beside Andy. Underestimating the breaking power of his bike, he ended up a few meters in front of her. He smiled sheepishly to himself and he made a sharp turn. He looked at her, his face expressionless.  After a few moments, he allowed his sheepish smile to grow into a grin. Some small comfort to the fact that this was the last mission they’d ever have together.OrTOG in Booker's point of view.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache & Booker | Sebastien & Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf & Nicky | Nicolò, Andy | Andromache & Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Joe | Yusuf al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	The Old Guard: Told By Sebastien 'Booker' Li Livre

**Author's Note:**

> A big thank you to Starwatcher for posting the transcript of The Old Guard movie.
> 
> And even though I said that I would only work on one project at one time, this would not leave me alone.

He was late. So he sped. Sped along the dirt road in hopes of not making Andromache wait. She’d be upset as it was when she found out the Copley was a repeat, there was no reason to annoy her by making her wait for him. 

So he rode his bike. Fast. Till he saw Andy walking up ahead. The tires squealed as he stepped hard on the brake to stop right beside Andy. Underestimating the breaking power of his bike, he ended up a few meters in front of her. He smiled sheepishly to himself and he made a sharp turn. He looked at her, his face expressionless. After a few moments, he allowed his sheepish smile to grow into a grin. Some small comfort to the fact that this was the last mission they’d ever have together. 

Andy shook her head, seeming as though she wanted to laugh, but thought better of it. She turned to look over her shoulder, in the direction he had come from. 

He wanted to run to her and hug her. To tell her everything, but didn't know what her reaction would be, so he didn’t. Even a few years short or two hundred, he still feared Andy and her wrath. Instead, he asked her: “You good?”

“Yeah.” She replied. Almost sighing. And Booker knew why. Quynh. She seemed happy on the surface, but Booker knew her. Knew that she must have spent the last year looking for Quynh.

He walked the bike to the wall and parked it. He pulled his duffle bag off the bike and slung it over his shoulder. 

Glancing at her, trying to somehow communicate to her that she could tell him the truth, he asked, “You travel?”

Andy nodded, sighing imperceptibly, well, imperceptibly to anyone other than her family, she responded, “I did. And, I got you something.” She opened her bag and pulled out a book. 

A book for Book. Sebastien’s mind unhelpfully and randomly provided. 

The book was a first edition Don Quixote. His heart clenched. Would they ever understand that expensive gifts were not what he wanted? And books, however much he read, did not provide the affection that a human did. That a book would hold him in the cold nights that he tossed and turned unable to sleep. The answer, he knew, was never. So he forced himself to say, “That couldn’t have been cheap.”

“It wasn’t. So why am I here, Booker?”

So he told her. Told her that Copley had a mission for them. A chance to do some good. And Andy reacted the way he expected her too. But she must have seen something in his mannerisms because she didn't say no. Not explicitly, anyway. 

At the hotel, he silently strode to the receptionist without being told. Human interaction had always been his job; the rest having seemed to have forgotten how to interact with anyone that wasn't them. The small talk he shared with the clerk felt good. It felt good to talk about something other than fighting or how much to pay a bartender. It felt good that someone was interested in knowing something about him; even if it was only by courtesy. But he ignored the ever-present ache in his chest and forced a smile on his face. 

They walked together, silently to the room. He wondered for the umpteenth time of Joe and Nicky would have missed him. If they would hug him, kiss him. Love him. 

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. 

He knocked. The fair-haired man opened the door. Nicky smiled at him, distractedly, his attention arrested by Andy. 

He enveloped Andy in a hug. Tight. Booker began shaking, trying to hide his tremors, he turned and closed the door.

Then Joe picked Andy up and embraced her in a way he could only dream of being held in. 

He broke. 

He broke because he had had enough. They all hadn’t seen each other in a year. He too had a right to be hugged. To be greeted in the same way. But all he received from Nicky was one small tight smile and a side glance from Joe. 

That was when he knew that he had made the right decision. They didn't need him. Want him. Love him. Not the way he did them. He had done right by himself, for once. 

“You look great.” Joe laughed, happier than Booker had ever seen him.

“You look okay.” She replied, grinning.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

The hotel was fancier than their usual accommodations. 

They didn't tend to stay in upmarket places, people there were more scrutinised, making it harder for them to pass undetected. But for some reason, this time they were here. 

He didn't mind. He deserved the best for his last mission with them, he thought spitefully. 

Nicky walked to Andy as Joe and Booker made themselves comfortable on the couches. Taking the proffered cup, he poured some whiskey into it. He had not slept well the previous night. A combination of Quynh’s deaths and anticipation of seeing them again. 

Turing a small package over in his hand, Nicky held it out and passed it to his sister. “Andy, I have something for you.” 

“Nicky!” She exclaimed as though she meant that he shouldn't have gotten her the present. “Mmm!” Booker chuckled. He hoped that even once he was gone, that smile would always grace her face. “Baklava!”

“Five hundred, Booker,” Nicky said, not once even glancing at him. This bet had become nothing more than a tedious ritual. He had won more times than he could count. Won money, that was. However, what he wanted, what he truly wanted constantly eluded him. Affection.

“No.”

Andy’s voice drew him out of his mental reprieve. Again the urge to say something bubbled, but he squashed it. He knew he had to act natural, so he replied, plastering a grin on his face, “All right.” He pulled his wallet out, fingered the notes that he wanted and continued. “All in. Here it is.”

“Really?” Andy said, her voice filled with amusement.

“All in!” Nicky confirmed.

Joe shook his head. “All in!”

Booker gently placed the bills on the coffee table. Joe and Nicky threw them down. He winced, noticeably. He could never stand it when people manhandled money. 

Both Nicky and Joe had grown up luxuriously, being the sons of a nobleman and merchant respectively. They had never starved or seen their siblings become so thin that one could see their bones or seen their mother and father work so much that they had no time to themselves or had children to watch starve. 

He watched Andy take a bite of the Baklava. 

“Mmm! Mm!” Seconds later, she said, “Hazelnut, not walnut.”

Nicky nodded, a look of apprehension crossing his face. He knew that he was going to lose… again. 

“The Black Sea.”

Booker raised his hand, two fingers up. 

“Rosewater.”

He raised a third finger and exhaled through his mouth. However tedious this had become, Andy’s tastebuds never failed to amaze him. 

“Pomegranate.”

Sebastien watched as Andy threw her head back, savouring the flavour of the sweet. 

“Eastern Turkey.”

Booker has steeled himself. He knew he had to keep up appearances. So when Andy uttered the words ‘Eastern Turkey’ he howled, acting delighted. 

Yusuf roared with laughter, almost falling off his chair in the process. 

That sound was music to his ears. He couldn’t remember the last time he had heard Yusuf laugh so loudly, so uninhibitedly.

That made him laugh. Truly laugh. Through his laughter, he spoke “Grazie mille, Nicky, veramente. Sei molto gentile.” (A thousand thanks, Nicky, truly. You’re very kind.)

“Santa Maria, Madre di Dio.” Joe laughed. (Holy Mary, Mother of God.)

Nicky rolled his eyes, raised his hand and waved away both of their words before saying, “Prego, prego, prego.” (Don’t mention it.)

“Admit it, Boss. You missed us.” Joe smirked at Andy. 

Booker’s heart clenched. He felt as though they did not care if he missed them or not. And it was clear that they hadn’t missed him. 

Andy nodded. “I did.” 

He wondered if she missed him, or just Joe and Nicky. He spoke up before they could hurt him more.

“It’s a job, guys.” 

“We can do some good.” Nicky had always been like that. He wanted to do good, no matter the cost, personal or otherwise.

Tension filled Andy’s frame. Regret also coloured her face. “Have you been watching the news lately? Some good means nothing.”

She stood and looked out the window and into the city. 

“I don’t know about this, guys. We’re not helping.”

Booker watched as Joe confidently said. “ I know you needed a break, but it’s been over a year, Boss.”

And then watched as Nicky spoke to reassure her, “This is what we do, Andy.”

He had never been able to console her in any way. Console any of them in any way.

“I’ll hear him out.” 

Relief flooded him. He’d have this with them. One last mission. If anything, it proved to him that they didn't need him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed this! Don't forget to leave a kudos and comment to let me know how u feel!


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